Lin Yutang and China's Search for Modern Rebirth

by Suoqiao Qian

Overview

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the socio-cultural and political context of modern China in terms of its interaction with America and the West, focusing on the influence of the well-known Chinese writer and intellectual Lin Yutang (1895-1976). Offering a unique study of the life and works of Lin Yutang, it highlights his intellectual legacy in modern China and considers how his cross-cultural life and ideas embodied the modern Chinese cultural experience. It notably focuses on Lin’s reputation as an outspoken critic of the infringement of human rights during the rise of the Communist regime in China, but also on his rediscovery of Chinese cultural resources. At a time when China’s cultural contributions are increasingly relevant worldwide, this book contributes to ongoing critical reflections of Chinese modernity, particularly in terms of its intellectual legacies, but also to a renewed understanding of the cross-cultural interactions between China and Americaand a re-opening the dialogue and search for a new cultural understanding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789811046568
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	10/24/2017
Series:	Canon and World Literature
Edition description:	1st ed. 2017
Pages:	475
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr Qian Suoqiao is Chair Professor of Chinese Studies at Newcastle University, UK. He received his PhD in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley and had taught in a number of universities in the US, China and Hong Kong. He has published widely in Chinese studies in both English and Chinese, particularly on Chinese modernity studies and cross-cultural studies between China and the world.

Table of Contents

Lin Yutang and China’s Intellectual Journey to Modernity.- Christian Childhood and Westernized Education.- “Thus Spoke Zarathustra:” A Progressive Nationalist for the Great Revolution.- From “Little Critic” to “Master of Humor”.- Struggling Against the “Double Dangers of Bolshevism and Fascism”.- “My China”: The East Speaks to the West.- Coming to America: the Birth of a “Chinese Philosopher”.- Culture and War: Interpreting Modern China.- Eastern Wisdom: Race, Empire and World Peace.- Loss of China and Wisdom of America.- “Looking Beyond” the Iron Curtain.- Grand Finale: “I Take My Leave and Depart”.